AP® Cybersecurity glossary
Smurf attack
A denial-of-service attack: internet control message protocol (ICMP) requests sent to a broadcast address with the victim's address forged as the source, so all replies flood the victim.
Appears in the course and exam description (CED): 3.1.A.43.5.E.6
Why it matters in Unit 3
Detect it by watching for a sudden increase in ICMP requests sent to the network’s broadcast address.
Example
An adversary sends ICMP requests to 192.168.1.255 with the victim’s address as the source; every device on the network replies to the victim.
Learn it properly, with a checkpoint Addresses: MAC, IP, ARP, DNS and ICMP